1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a network interface card attached to an information terminal device such as a personal computer, a network conference terminal device using such a network interface card, and a network conference system using this network conference terminal device.
2. Background Art
Network I/F (interface) cards that are PC cards based on the PCMCIA standards (Personal Computer Memory Card Interface Adapter) and are capable of connecting personal computers to a LAN (local area network) are becoming widely utilized. When this type of network interface card is inserted into a PC card slot of a personal computer, it is possible to connect the personal computer to a LAN.
In order to connect a personal computer to a LAN, it is necessary to set in advance network configuration settings for connecting the personal computer to the LAN (hereinafter referred to as a “network setting”). This network setting contains setting information of an IP address (identification information and location information for controlling a path) of such personal computer in the LAN and a setting of an IP address of a DNS server (server for providing a translation between IP addresses and domain names).
FIG. 1 shows a personal computer to which a conventional network interface card is connected and to which reference will be made in explaining the function used to execute the network setting. In an operating system (e.g., Windows 95 or Windows 98 (“Windows” is a registered trademark)) of a personal computer, there is support for setting the network configuration settings. This network setting function contains a component that displays a network setting interface in order to execute a network setting based on a user's input operations.
On the other hand, a device driver, which is software to control a conventional network interface card, does not contain a network setting function. For this reason, a network setting of a personal computer is executed by using a network function of the operating system of the personal computer.
FIG. 2 shows an operational procedure executed by users to connect the personal computer shown in FIG. 1 to the LAN. Users insert the network interface card into the personal computer and activate the operating system of the personal computer to display a control panel on the screen of the personal computer. Then, users select a network setting icon from the control panel and enter data in accordance with instructions of a network setting interface displayed when users select the corresponding icon. Thereafter, users restart the operating system and the network setting is completed.
As described above, in order to attach a conventional network interface card to a personal computer so that the personal computer may be connected to a LAN, users have to activate the operating system of the personal computer to make operations to set the network setting. Accordingly, these operations are difficult to understand for users who have little knowledge of the operating system. When a notebook size personal computer, for example, is carried into various places and is connected to a LAN, the above operations must be made at every place so that such operations become troublesome even for users who are have knowledge of the operating system.
Under circumstances in which a DHCP protocol is used, which is a protocol capable of managing information to execute the network setting in a centralized fashion when supported by the operating system, since the operating system side automatically executes the network setting processing, users need not do operations to set the network setting. However, in actual practice, most users have personal computers in which the DHCP protocol is not supported by the operating system.
In view of the aforesaid situation, the first problem to be solved by the present invention is that, when the network interface card is attached to the personal computer to thereby connect the personal computer to a LAN, even though the DHCP protocol is not supported by the operating system of the personal computer, the network settings can be set without troubling users.
In addition, in places such as various kinds of meetings, presentations and lectures (these meetings, presentations and lectures will be generally referred to as a “conference” in this specification), heretofore, the presentation is made by displaying presentation data such as images and illustrations on a projector. However, depending on the scale of the conference hall and the size of the screen of the projector, those who are seated away from the projector cannot always watch presentation data displayed on the screen.
In recent years, presentations that can be displayed on a personal computer connected to a LAN at each seat in the conference hall are becoming increasingly common. As described above, if the conference is held by effectively utilizing the LAN, then participants at all seats are able to watch satisfactorily watch the presentation data.
However, if a personal computer is provided at each seat as part of the conference room equipment, then it is unavoidable that the cost of equipment in the conference hall will increase. If notebook size personal computers are brought by the participants of the conference and are connected to the LAN within the conference hall, then the cost of equipment can be reduced. In this case, however, the operations for setting the network settings become problematic for the participants.
In view of the aforesaid issue, the second problem to be solved by the present invention is that a conference system using a LAN can be constructed without increasing the cost of equipment of the conference hall and also without imposing a burden on the participants in order to execute the network setting.